{UX} User Psychology: Navigating Your User’s Attention While Designing Experiences

Attention is the act of carefully thinking about or noticing someone or something. It refers to a person’s momentary, or recurring, interest. Typically we, as designers, may think of our user’s attention as a fleeting thing that we only have so much time to attract, then hold, then fight to keep.

This understanding of how Attention works can result in eye-catching design elements and ‘cool’ features. It’s basically like adding a bunch of shiny, moving parts to our work in hopes of catching a fleeting gaze and alluring the audience. These design decisions are slightly misguided, though beneficial when implemented in moderation.

To observe your own Attention, check out this short video:

The video illustrates the selective nature of our Attention. Our brains can only fully focus on one thing at a time. In this case, our brains are focused on keeping track of the ball and counting every pass. While doing this, we are very likely to miss the Black Belt Guerilla. As designers, we really need to…